EuroLeague Women joy for the victors while tears for the losers



The importance of EuroLeague Women home advantage was illustrated in games 3 of all the eighth-final matches.

Two games were decided in overtime with the home side coming out on top. The two other games also went down to the wire with the visitors coming away with nothing.

Gunta Basko and Ann Wauters ©  FIBA Europe CSKA Moscow roller coaster EuroLeague season ended in dramatic fashion in Salamanca Spain.

They lost in double-overtime to Halcon Avenida (83-74).

A late three-pointer from Anke De Mondt from Halcon Avenida sent the game into overtime.

Spartak Moscow thought they had done enough to win the game when yet again Halcon Avenida, this time Donnette Snow fired in beyond the arc to take the game into double-overtime.

With Becky Hammon on the bench with five fouls and Katie Douglas not playing, Spartak Moscow played the whole of extra time with just five players and just ran out of energy in the final minutes.

Snow was the leading scorer for Halcon Avenida with 23 points and 14 rebounds, while Ann Wauters and Hammon scored 21 and 20 points each for CSKA Moscow

Last season's EuroLeague finalist Gambrinus Brno also went out in hard fought match against Bourges Basket (67-62). (Scroll down for full match report or click this link).

Gunta Basko and Ann Wauters ©  FIBA Europe - Ahmet Hopyar Fernerbahçe had a dramatic victory against Lotos PKO BP Gdynia (79-73) in a match that almost went into double-overtime.

Tammy Sutton-Brown (right) scored 28 points and took 11 rebounds for Fernerbahçe and was the player of the match.

However Taminka Catching and Alana Board scored a combined total of 48 points for the Polish side as they all they could to stop their hosts.


MKB Euroleasing Sopron were also made to sweat it out before out pacing Wisla Can-Pack Krakow (79-70).

Wisla Can-Pack went 0-for-9 from beyond the arc, while their hosts did a little better with 3-from-14 which turned out to be the difference between the two teams.



The quarter-finals games will be played on the 17th and 20th February 2009 and if a third game is required it will be played on 25 February 2009.

You can scroll down to the bottom of this page or follow this link for quarter-final pairing and all the results from the eighth-final play-off series.


Céline Dumerc leading the way for Bourges Basket

Hamchetou Maiga Ba surrounded by Bourges basket players (Hands up) ©  Olivier MartinHamchetou Maiga Ba (left) has played in France during her career and quickly made herself feel at home with the first 4 points of the game for Gambrinus.

Gambrinus had the better of the opening spell and led (9-3).

Céline Dumerc was the only player from Bourges able to hit the target.

She did this in style with three three-pointers as she single-handedly kept Bourges in touch with their guests (9-11).

The two teams continued their exchange of baskets with Maiga Ba and Petra Kulichová very active for the guests and Katarina Manic for Bourges.

Emméline Ndongue ©  FIBA Europe Emméline Ndongue (right in picture) gave Bourges the advantage briefly for the first time in the match after nine minutes of play when she completed a three-point play with a free-throw (19-17).

Manic was to split a pair of free-throws to finish the scoring in the first period and keep Bourges in front (20-19).

The lead changed several times during a lively spell by both sides during the first five minutes of the second period.

Bourges managed to increase their advantage thanks to the unselfish work of Cathy Melain and the scoring of Dumerc (31-26).

A switch to a standard zone by Gambrinus put a stop to Bourges Basket's progress.

Tamika Whitmore finally opened her account. Then some excellent shooting from Zuzana Zirková with 7 points enabled Gambrinus to level the score (35-35) at the interval.

Céline Dumerc ©  FIBA Europe When Dumerc (left) is on fire there is just no stopping her.

She was everywhere but Gambrinus had Zirková who also was all over the court as she kept Gambrinus on the tail of Bourges.

Gambrinus finally regained the lead with Hana Horakova stepping up offensively (46-45) after 26 minutes of play.

Scoring became more difficult as either side cancelled each other out defensively for the last four minutes of the third period.

All the same Gambrinus stayed ahead going into the last quarter (49-47).

Gambrinus went to work collectively at the start of the final period.

They stretched their advantage as Zirková and Horakova were hitting three-pointers and Eva Vitecková adding 2 points (57-50) with only Dumerc scoring for Bourges.

Gambrinus continued to move the ball around with different players scoring while Bourges with Dumerc in foul problems had to rely on Ndongue working in the paint for points.

Ndongue threw herself into the battle and was rewarded with a series of points and with the three-point shooting of Manic and Melain. The two teams were tied once again (61-61) with three minutes remaining.

Ndongue then put Bourges back in front after taking a nice pass from Melain and driving to the basket. She was fouled in the process and also converted the free-throw with the game entering money-time (64-61).

The remaining points came from the free-throw line with Bourges holding on to win (67-62).

Dumerc finished the game with 23 points and dished out 4 assists to lead the Bourges attack.

Manic added 17 while Ndongue added 15 points and 9 rebounds. Melain dished out 7 assists.

For Gambrinus Zirková had 19 points while Maiga Ba scored 15 points.



Quarter-final pairings

Halcon Avenida vs. MiZo Pécs 2010

UMMC Ekaterinburg vs. Fenerbahce

Spartak Moscow Region vs. Ros Casares

Bourges Basket vs. MKB Euroleasing


EuroLeague Women 2008-2009 scores from the eighth-final first leg:

Bourges Basket 72-57 Gambrinus

Umana Reyer 60-61 MiZo Pécs 2010

Halcon Avenida 80-69 CSKA Moscow

MKB Euroleasing 81-58 Wisla Can-Pack

UMMC Ekaterinburg 91-61 TEO Vilnius

Spartak Moscow Region 102-86 ZVVZ USK Prague

Ros Casares 98-53 Broker Kosice

Fenerbahce 87-83 LOTOS PKO BP


EuroLeague Women 2008-2009 scores from the eighth-final second leg:

Gambrinus 61-59 Bourges Basket

MiZo Pécs 2010 65-57 Umana Reyer (MiZo Pécs 2010 win 2:0)

CSKA Moscow 96-64 Halcon Avenida

Wisla Can-Pack 52-39 MKB Euroleasing

TEO Vilnius 46-69 UMMC Ekaterinburg (UMMC Ekaterinburg win 2:0)

ZVVZ USK Prague 78-92 Spartak Moscow Region (Spartak Moscow Region win 2:0)

Broker Kosice 48-81 Ros Casares (Ros Casares win 2:0)

LOTOS PKO BP 63-60 Fenerbahce


EuroLeague Women 2008-2009 scores from the eighth-final third leg leg:

Bourges Basket 67-62 Gambrinus (Bourges Basket win 2:1)

Halcon Avenida 83-74 CSKA Moscow (Halcon Avenida win 2:1)

MKB Euroleasing 79-70 Wisla Can-Pack (MKB Euroleasing win 2:1)

Fenerbahce 79-76 LOTOS PKO BP (Fenerbahce win 2:1)


News from EuroLeague Women 1/8 final game two

News from EuroLeague Women 1/8 final game one

What happened during EuroLeague Women round 10

Look back at round 9

Return from EuroLeague Women to Women playing basketball blog

Return EuroLeague Women season 2008-09 Index page

EuroLeague Women picture credits:
FIBA Europe
Olivier Martin @Basquetebol.org

Date created: 04 February 2009


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